Who’s who at AP?
Audemars Piguet’s CEO has declared her new senior management team is now complete, almost two years after taking the reins at the beginning of 2024.
Ilaria Resta, who joined the Le Brassus brand after 25 years in the cosmetics and beauty business, has recruited from across industries, and the leadership team is pointedly thin on Swiss watchmaking lifers.
In what might be interpreted as eschewing the image of watchmaking executives as pale, male and stale, Ms Resta has unveiled a team of four women and six men; ranging in age from millennials like chief marketing officer Sophie Bambuck and chief human resources officer Nicole Dominik to experienced hands like Eric Saracchi, AP’s chief digital transformation and information officer.
Ms Resta says she has built a team with expertise, experience and agility, but says it is about more than just their skills.
“It’s about people – their values, their energy and how they connect with one another. Building a team is not just about complementing skills, but about shaping a shared culture,” she shares.
In a passionate post on her LinkedIn feed, Ms Resta says the next 150 years of Audemars Piguet will be written by many hands. “Our now complete Executive Leadership Team will help guide the company into the next chapter, with purpose and with heart,” she adds.
Ms Resta was selected as the successor to François-Henry Bennahmias over his right hand man and continuity candidate Michael Friedman, who left AP from his role as head of complications in the same year as his longstanding boss.
That signalled a change in approach at the business, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.
“When I selected my team with the board, I looked for diverse perspectives and personalities that would challenge my own thinking and bring fresh ideas to the table, so we could all start this new chapter together, with a shared sense of purpose and discovery, while nurturing AP’s culture and openness,” Ms Resta describes.
Let’s meet them.
Audemars Piguet’s Leadership Team
Ilaria Resta, CEO
Spent almost 23 years at FMCG giant Proctor & Gamble, rising from brand manager of laundry detergents to senior vice-president of hair care for North America. Moved to Geneva as global head of perfumery and beauty for Firmenich. Joined AP as CEO of transition and onboarding as François-Henry Bennahmias departed after 10 years in the top job and became permanent CEO in January 2024.
Sophie Bambuck, Chief Marketing Officer
Joined sportwear giant Nike as an intern at its global headquarters in Oregon, USA, and rose through the ranks to become senior marketing director for the company at its Western Europe office in Amsterdam. She moved for a brief stint as chief marketing officer at rival sportswear brand Converse in Boston before returning for two more years at Nike’s HQ where she spent two more years as vice-president of global brand marketing from 2019-21. She gained additional experience in C-level marketing at activewear brands Everlane and The North Face before joining AP as CMO in February this year.
Andrea Borla, Chief Financial Officer
A graduate of Swiss management school, University of St. Gallen, Mr Borla’s career has seen him travelling the world lending his financial expertise to businesses in Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, France and Geneva at businesses including Swiss International Airlines, elevator and escalator manufacturer Schindler Group and electricals giant Life Energy Motion (LEM), where he spent almost a decade at its Geneva headquarters.
He moved to Audemars Piguet a year ago in December 2024 as its CFO.
Nicolas Burgener, Chief Legal and Governance Officer
With a law degree secured from Switzerland’s University of Fribourg, Mr Burgner in 1998, Mr Burgener continued his education at the Swiss Tax Academy and INSEAD’s international board of director’s programme while beginning his career as a tax consultant at Deloitte and an attorney at Oberson & Partners in Geneva before moving to Audemars Piguet in 2006 where he has risen to become group chief legal officer and senior member of its executive committee.
One of the few AP lifers in Ms Resta’s team, he has been a board member for Audemars Piguet’s pension fund since 2017 and a director of its Foundation since 2023.
Nicole Dominik, Chief Human Resources Officer
Another clean skin from outside the horological fraternity, Ms Dominik spent almost 20 years with Switzerland’s CHF 200 billion food and drink conglomerate Nestlé, beginning an a human resources trainee in 2001 and rising to become head of HR at its Vevey headquarters in 2017.
She moved to Lausanne to join Cereal Partners Worldwide in 2019, which is partly owned by Nestlé, as VP Human Resources before being hired by AP in March 2025 to become chief human resources officer.
Luis Miguel Gonzalez Sebastiani, Chief Commercial Officer
The man responsible for maintaining estimated sales of CHF 2.4 billion for Audemars Piguet, Mr Gonzalez Sebastiani is another executive with no experience in the watch business before joining AP in June this year. He is familiar with luxury, scarcity and collectibles, having spent almost three years as commercial and marketing officer at Ferrari in Milan, responsible for almost every element of the business, except for selling cars.
Prior to that, he was global general manager for perfume at Bulgari for over five years, an industry he was first steeped in with stints at Proctor & Gamble where he had commercial roles with Dolce&Gabbana fragrances and the beauty portfolios for Gucci and Alexander McQueen.
Dominique Heintz, Chief Strategic Officer
Mr Heintz has seen it all as a back office operative at Audemars Piguet over a 22 year career that began as vice-president of finance and administration in 2003 and has included spells as group organisation and information officer, secretary of the Strategic Committee of the Board of Directors and chief strategy office under Mr Bennahmias from 2020 until his departure.
Now with the tweaked title of chief strategic operations officer, he will be Ms Resta’s most experience fixer.
Lucas Raggi, Chief Industrial Officer
Precision engineering courses through the veins of Mr Raggi, who holds a masters in Robotics and Autonomous Systems from Switzerland’s legendary technology institute, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and stayed on at the university to teach product design in watchmaking and medical equipment for three years from 2008.
That led him to the R&D department of AP, which he joined in 2011 to work on advanced movements, and later into management roles contributing to a pipeline of new calibres and industrial processes.
Mr Raggi became director of research and development in 2017 (the year AP introduced the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in black ceramic), and had his title upgraded to chief industrial officer in April this year after 14 years in the R&D department.
Eric Saracchi, Chief Digital Transformation and Information Officer
Mr Saracchi describes his role at AP as “fostering human talent to create the extraordinary”, a mission he has been on since joining the business in the summer of 2023.
He moved to Le Brassus at around the same time as his boss Ms Resta, having worked with her at Geneva-based perfumery and beauty firm Firmenich, where he spent over 30 years in financial and information technology roles and was ultimately responsible for building a driving the group’s digital transformation and ecommerce initiatives. Among his much-in-demand skills listed on LinkedIn, he includes digital strategy, risk management, governance and business strategy.
Géraldine Stalder, Chief Legal Officer
Continuity among the lawyers at Audemars Piguet appears to be a strategic choice of Ms Resta because chief legal officer Ms Stalder has 15 years at the company to complement the 19 years’ experience of Nicolas Burgener, the company’s chief legal and governance officer.
Having earned her law degree at the University of Lausanne and Masters in Business Law from the University of Geneva (1996 to 2003), she entered the business world as a trainee legal advisor at Nestlé, spent four years with FBT Avocats law firm and joined AP in 2011 for her first role as legal counsel.
A few promotions later and she is now part of the senior team trusted by the board to keep Audemars Piguet legally watertight for the next 150 years.
